AUSTRALASIAN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 17, 1999

Streeter's Jetty, Broome, Western Australia: An example of aheritage icon moving from private ownership to community control

PAMELA A. SMITH and LYN DEVEREUX

In the mid- I880s a small jetty made from local cadjebut (Melaleuca laucadendron) was built in Broome toservice the rapidly expanding pearlingfleet. A century later that jetty, now referred to as Streeter's Jetty, wasone ofthe few remaining structures from 80 years ofpearling in the northwest prior to pearl farming. In afragile condition and requiring urgent repairs the jetty was, however, no longer ofcommercial value and theowners were unwilling to maintain it. This paper recounts the history ofthejetty and the events which led to theShire ofBroome moving to successfully obtain control ofthe jetty on behalfofthe community and to attractgovernment support andfundingfor its restoration.

In May 1998 the Shire of Broome successfully lobbied thepearling company Paspaley Pearls Pty Ltd to relinquishownership ofStreeter's Jetty to allow control ofthe jetty to passto the Shire. This brought to an end ongoing communityconcern about the fragile condition of this unique andhistorically significant jetty and paved the way for governmentfunding for urgently needed conservation work. This is anexample of an all too frequent dilemma, a privately ownedstructure of outstanding historical significance but of nocommercial value to its owners requiring substantial funding toensure its long term survival. In this paper the events which ledto the Shire ofBroome moving to successfully obtain control ofthe jetty on behalfof the community and to attract governmentsupport and funding are recounted together with the history ofthe jetty.

Modern Broome has a permanent population of about12 000 residents which swells to well over 20 000 during thedry season, the tourist season. The Asian cultural influencesintroduced by Asian pearl divers from several countries duringthe end of the nineteenth century and the first half of thetwentieth century persist to the present and Broome is one ofAustralia's few multicultural rural centres. During the last twodecades the local economy has become increasingly dependenton tourism, although the pearling industry, now centred onpearl farms along the Kimberley coast, remains economicallyimportant. Today, the promotion and conservation of Broome'spearling heritage is a priority. Many families have their roots inthe pearling industry and the few remaining structures from thatera are the only symbols through which the town and its peoplecan express their unique and very significant heritage.

Streeter's Jetty is an icon of Broome's heritage. It is listedon the Australian Heritage Council Register (AHC 18074), theShire of Broome Municipal Heritage Inventory, 1996, and is inthe Chinatown Conservation area declared by the NationalTrust of Australia (W.A.) in March 1983. According to asubmission to the Heritage Council of Western Australia it is'the last visible link with the pearling industry ofpast years ... '.'Despite these very positive declarations which record itsheritage value, government funding has not previously beenavailable for its restoration and maintenance.

Today, just prior to its proposed restoration, the jetty hasdecayed almost to the point of collapse. All metal fasteningsshow evidence ofspalling and where the spalling is extreme thedeck stringers and cross-bracings have split. Many of thespreaders on the cross-bracings are missing and manycross-bracings are no longer attached to the piles. Four piles atthe deep water end are so severely eroded that at low tide theyhang suspended above the sand. The swell of king tides onMarch 11,12 and 13, 1997 rose above the decking wrenching atits timbers. When the tide receded the last five metres of thedeck at the landing end was left buckled and no longer safe towalk on.

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Although the existence of large beds of the pearl oyster(Pinctada maxima) were observed during the voyage of theBeagle in 1839 pearling in the North-West of Australia isreputed to have had its beginnings in the 1860s when colonistsat the Harding River noticed Aboriginal people wearing largepearl shells as decoration.2 Commercial pearling commenced atCossack in 1867 using Aboriginal divers, mostly women, manyof whom were kidnapped and enslaved by blackbirders whowere also establishing camps to trade black labour. Thisexploitation of Aboriginal labour was legislated against in1869.3 As the pearling industry became increasingly profitablepearlers sought new shell beds and expanded up the coast. Bythe mid-1870s a number of pearling fleets were wellestablished and working the shell beds in and above KingGeorge Sound to the north of Broome using 'indentured' Asiandivers.

Roebuck Bay was particularly favoured as a safe anchorageand during the 1870s several permanent camps wereestablished by individual pearling fleet owners in the sandhi lisfringing the bay. Permanent houses, victualling stores for thegrowing pearling fleets and other businesses soon followed andthe township of Broome was gazetted in 1883. By 1888 GeorgeStreeter as agent for his father's company, Edwin WilliamStreeter, jeweller and gem merchant of Bond Street, London,had established a store adjacent to his company's camp andshell shed on the coast. The company had also purchasedRoebuck Plains Station and the store was to serve thecompany's pearling and pastoral requirements. It was also wellplaced to serve the needs of the town and 'developed into astore for supplying the surrounding settlers and the pioneerpearlers with the necessities for their daily lives and thecarrying on of their industries,.4 George Streeter returned toEngland in 1898 leaving the management of the Company'sinterests in the hands of Arthur Male. s The company of Streeterand Male dates from this time and remained the owner ofStreeter's Jetty until part of the Company's interests were soldin 1983.

Streeter's Jetty was built across the tidal mudflats ofDampier Creek at the end of Short Street adjacent to EdwinStreeter's shell sheds. It is believed that the jetty dates from thelate 1880s when the company built its store (Fig. I). It isreferred to by George S. Streeter in his diary, maintained whilston his world voyage overseeing his father's holdings, and wasbuilt from locally cut bush timber, probably cadjebut.6 Thisjetty was used continuously by the pearling industry from itsheyday in the 1920s and 1930s when the number of pearlingluggers based in Broome reached 400 until the 1980s, by whichtime the off-shore industry was well established.7 Althoughrecords of its overall dimensions are not known, fromphotographs it appears that the jetty retained the same designand size with only minor modifications until 1966 when thejetty was realigned, shortened and all timbers were replaced.

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Fig. 1: Chart excerpt Roebuck Inner Anchorage (1922, last rev. 1937). BA858 (in/eet).

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A detailed report on the condition of the jetty prepared in1995 recorded the dimensions ofthe jetty then as being: overalllength: 67.1 m (220 feet); width: 1.8 m (6 feet); height at theseaward end: 2.4 m (8 feet); height at the land end: 1.5 m(5 feet). The rail line stopped short of the seaward end andextended 23.2 m (76 feet) beyond the landward end of thejetty.8 Until the late 1980s there was also a fuel platform(Fig. 2); there is almost no evidence of this today.

It is believed that cadjebut has been continuously used forthe main piles and cross-bracings. This timber is availablelocally and, according to Mr Kim Male, repairs andmaintenance were carried out by employees ofthe company, atleast until 1989 when Streeter and Male Pty Ltd was purchasedby Paspaley Pearls pty Ltd. Local knowledge about where tofind stands of suitable timber and how to place the timber hasalways, therefore, been an intangible feature of the jetty and afurther significant reason why it is valued by the residents ofBroome. An exception was the recent use of treated pine toreplace the last four piles and cross-bracings at the landing endof the jetty. This use of inappropriate and poor quality timbermay have contributed to the lifting and buckling of this end ofthe jetty in 1997.

The decking timber originally used was jarrah, shippedfrom the southwest of Western Australia. Although some oftherecently replaced decking is not jarrah, much of the jarrahplaced in the rebuilding ofthe jetty in 1966 remains. All but sixof the piles and all cross-bracings were replaced with cadjebutcut from the Willies Creek area, 35 km northwest of Broome.9

The existing iron fastenings also date from 1966 (Fig. 3).

The jetty construction uses a repeating trestle formularesulting in elegant proportions and an aesthetically verypleasing structure. Fig. 4 illustrates the nature of thecross-bracing between each pair ofpiles and the stringers under

the decking. The single rail track down the centre was replacedby a double track. It is certain that these tracks contributedsignificantly to the structural integrity of the jetty and to itssurvival in an environment where cyclones occur. The trackswere removed in 1995 because they were no long used and thethen owners were very concerned about public'liability and therisk they presented. Sadly, they also unwittingly removed asignificant reinforcing element.

This jetty, adjacent to the shell sheds and the victuallingstore of Streeter and Male Pty Ltd, was the hub around whichthe pearling industry in the North-West was conducted for overeighty years. The unique Broome pearling luggers used thejetty to unload their haul of pearl shell and to load stores fortheir next voyage. At first they used a small trolley which ranalong the single rail line and, after 1896, a larger four wheeledtrolley was pushed along the double rail line past the shell shedsto Streeter and Male's store at the end of Short Street. The linewas the main connecting element between the boats and thestore and between the jetty and the foreshore.

The period following the Second World War was a time ofdecline for both the pearling industry and for the town ofBroome. When the industry recovered during the 1970s and1980s it no longer depended on the famous Broome pearlingluggers to take the divers to the increasingly distant shell bedsand to transport pearls and pearl shell to port. The advent ofpearl farms along the coast transformed the industry andStreeter's Jetty and the Broome foreshore were no longer thehub of the pearling industry in the North West. As the numberof pearling luggers declined so did demand for the jetty.Gradually it fell into disuse and, because it was no longer ofcommercial value, deteriorated to the condition describedabove.

Fig. 2: High tide at Streeter's Jetty. 1981. showing the fuel platform. (Photograph by Roger Canvood. Perth.)

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Fig. 3: The seaward end ofStreeter's Jetty. 1997. iliustrating the fragilecondition ofthe piles and cross-bracings. (Photograph by P. A. Smith.)

This story is a familiar one for many heritage buildings andstructures. No longer of commercial value the owners eitherhave no incentive to maintain the structure or can no longerafford to. In the case of Streeter's Jetty lack of maintenanceover the last two decades has resulted in a fragile decayingstructure requiring substantial funding for repairs andmaintenance.

When Paspaley Pearls Pty Ltd took control of Streeter andMale Pty Ltd in 1989 Streeter's Jetty was included in the assetsof the company. The substantial pearling interests of the newowners were invested in pearl farms along the north andnorthwest coast and the jetty was no longer used. Also, unlikethe previous owners, the company had no historical links to thestructure and therefore felt no personal connection to it orresponsibility for it. In 1992 a high wire fence ('Cyclone'-type)was erected to prevent public access to the jetty and about thistime the adjacent shell sheds were demolished despite theirinclusion in the conservation area declared by the NationalTrust of Australia (W.A.). Furthermore, the registration of thejetty fell under the jurisdiction of the Marine Division of theDepartment ofTransport with their policy that ajetty in privateownership which had been allowed to fall into disrepair andwhich was a public risk, should be removed. To its credit theDepartment has never taken any such action with regard toStreeter's Jetty, although it was feared that such an order couldbe made at any time.

Community concern about the deteriorating condition ofStreeter's Jetty was continuously expressed during the 1990s.In 1995 two reports made recommendations about Streeter'sJetty. The report Port related Structures on the coast ofWestern Australia recommended its inclusion on the Registerof the National Estate. 10 A detailed report on the condition ofthe jetty by Dr M. McCarthy for the Department of MaritimeArchaeology, W.A. Maritime Museum recommended that thejetty be listed on the W.A. Register of Heritage Places and theMunicipal Register. 11

Fig. 4: The trestle formula used in the supporting structure ofStreeter's Jetty. 1982. (Photograph by R. M Smith.)

NOTES

A submission on behalfofthe Broome Historical Society tothe Heritage Council of W.A. for the inclusion of Streeter'sJetty on the State Register of Heritage Places was sent in1995. 12 In 1996 it was included in the Shire of BroomeMunicipal Heritage Inventory. None of these reports andrecommendations, however, ensured the much needed fundingto undertake urgent repairs and by 1997 the jetty was still notlisted on the W.A. Register of Heritage Places.

Following the completion of the Broome Cultural PlanningStudy, which again contained recommendations for urgentconservation measures, the consultant for the Cultural PlanningStudy together with a representative from the local paper metwith the Regional Manager of Paspaley Pearls Pty Ltd todiscuss the current status of the jetty.13 One proposal was thatthe paper launch an appeal to raise funds to restore the jetty andthe company was asked if they would be prepared to handownership ofthe jetty over to the community. They were not. Italso became apparent that the company had plans for thedevelopment of the foreshore adjacent to the jetty, althoughfuture public access was assured by an easement for a majortown drain close to the end of the jetty. It was decided that thebenefit of a public appeal might be compromised by thesedevelopment plans and not in the best interest of the paper.

The structural condition of the jetty was by this time veryfragile and there was concern that it would not withstand acyclone. In mid-1997 Paspaley Pearls Pty Ltd engaged aconsultant, Pam Smith, to prepare a funding submission to theHeritage Council of W.A. for stage one of a conservationprogram. 14 Although sympathetic, the Council resolved that itwould be inappropriate to provide government funding for thejetty whilst it was privately owned.

Paspaley Pearls Ltd were subsequently persuaded by theShire Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to relinquish control ofthe Jetty to the Shire of Broome and the Shire CommunityDevelopment Officer (CDO) developed a media campaign toraise public awareness ofthe significance ofthe site and to seekfinancial support from the community. The response wasconsiderable in terms of offers of equipment, materials andvoluntary labour. Most of the offers were made by peoplewhose fathers and relatives had worked on the jetty and thesepeople had many fond memories of their childhood playing onand around the jetty. The Shire CDO also prepared submissionsfor funding which were successful and submitted the amendedproposal to the Heritage Council ofW.A. The Heritage Councilthen agreed to provide $27 600 for a conservation plan andurgent restoration work and the Broome Chamber ofCommerce donated $10000. That conservation plan has nowbeen completed and provides a document which describes thecultural significance of the jetty and which will determine theimplementation offuture policies. It will also be used as a basisto attract future funding.

Streeter's Jetty will no longer be a commercial jetty as it isunlikely that boats larger than small pleasure craft will be ableto use it after the conservation work has been completed. Its useand function have changed and its future as a valued heritagestructure has been secured. It is destined to be a valued andloved centrepiece of the Broome Heritage Precinct aroundwhich an active tourist industry is already developing. Thisfunding will ensure that Streeter's Jetty will survive andcontinue to convey images of Broome's pearling history wellinto the next century. 15

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AKERMAN, K. with STANTON, 1. 1994. Riji and Jakoli:Kimberley Pearlshell in Aboriginal Australia. NorthernTerritory Museum of Arts and Sciences Monograph Series4, Darwin

BATTYE, J. S. 1915. The History of the North-West ofAustralia, V.K. Jones and Co., Perth.

BROOME HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1995. Submissionfor theinclusion of Streeter's Jetty on the State Register ofHeritage Places, prepared by Mrs R. Hunter on behalf ofthe Broome Historical Society, Broome.

CUMMING, D. A., D. GARRETT, M. McCARTHY, and A.WOLFE. 1995. Port related structures on the Coast ofWestern Australia, Fremantle: Report for the Departmentof Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian MaritimeMuseum, Report no. 98.

JAMES, H. C. 1979. Western Australia: A pictorial parade of150 years, Rigby, Adelaide.

McCARTHY, M. 1995. Streeter's Pearling Jetty. Maritimeheritage site inspection report. Fremantle: Department ofMaritime Archaeology, W.A. Maritime Museum, Reportno. 124.

SMITH, P. A. 1996. Community and Council, report of theBroome Cultural Planning Study for the Shire of Broomeand the Arts Portfolio ofW.A. Shire of Broome, Broome.

SMITH, P. A. 1997. Submission to the Heritage Council ofWestern Australia, Conservation Incentive Program,1996/7, for funding to undertake restoration lVork onStreeter's Jetty Broome, prepared on behalf of PaspaleyPearls Pty. Ltd., Darwin.

SHIRE OF BROOME 1996. Municipal Heritage Inventory.Broome.

BffiLIOGRAPHY

5 The date for this event is given as being 1896 in BroomeHistorical Society (1995).

6 Streeter a.s., Diary 1880-1890, referred to in BroomeHistorical Society 1995. In a submission to the StateRegister of Heritage Places from the Broome HistoricalSociety it is recorded that Streeter's Jetty had a T platformat the deep water end and a rail track by 1896 (BroomeHistorical Society 1995). This is also a description ofthedeep water jetty built at Town Beach in 1896 (refer to theBroome Shire Municipal Heritage Inventory) andStreeter's Jetty may have been confused with this laterjetty, although it could also refer to each of the jetties.

7 James 1979:239.

8 McCarthy 1995.

9 Broome Historical Society 1995; interview with Mr KimMale,1997.

10 Cumming et al. 1995.

II McCarthy 1995.

12 Broome Historical Society 1995.

13 Smith 1996.

14 Smith 1997.

15 Ifyou would like more information about the progress ofStreeter's Jetty contact the Broome Shire communitywebsite address: www.ebroome.com

Broome Historical Society 1995.

Battye 1915:113; Broome Municipal Heritage Inventory1996:3; refer also to Akerman with Stanton 1994.

Battye 1915:113.

Battye 1915:141.

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